Reviews// Calling All Cars (PS3 download)

HD graphics; 50Gb games; online multiplayer. Pah! One of the most exciting things to come out of next-gen gaming has to be the advent of downloadable console games. Many an hour has passed in the SPOnG office with a stack of Blu-ray discs sat idly to one side as we've hammered away endlessly at Blast Factor.

While the PlayStation Network is still in its infancy and a little light on quality content, it's proven, with the likes of flOw, that it's more than capable of providing fun and original gaming. David Jaffe's Calling all Cars, I can happily report, continues that trend in fine form.

Like many beautifully simple games, there's no real story to Calling all Cars. Basically, you're a rogue cop of some description and your job is to bag criminals (by running them over) before they can get up to naughtiness. Pop 'em in your car, then get 'em into gaol. Simple, eh? Well yes, it is. Not quite as simple as that, though. For some reason the three other cars on screen are hell bent on doing the job themselves, to the point where they'll try to mash you in order to wang the criminals into gaol themselves. Throw in a stylised cartoony finish and you've got yourself Calling all Cars.

So, basically, it's about a trillion gazillion miles away from what you'd expect to spawn from the mind of God of War's creator. Over-arching mythology? No sir. In-depth story. No way. Beautifully rendered cut-scenes? Nope. Never let the word of “epic” fall in the same sentence as the name Calling all Cars (except in this sentence).

When SPOnG caught up with Jaffe we asked him how it felt to work on Calling all Cars after his previous work with Kratos. He told us, “it was a joy.” A brief look at the game in action will show all that joy.

The game is delivered with a healthy dose of Looney Tunes-esque humour. The whole thing was produced with tongue planted firmly in cheek, from the brief Beano-like opening sequence, to the short load screens showing shifty looking fellas making their way out of the pen, to the horrific American-'Oirish' voice-overs that made SPOnG's resident Irishman threaten to hit us with the PS3 when we snickered.

The audio is solid, if mildly irritating after a while. It's chaotic, to say the least. It's reminiscent of a slapstick cartoon straight from the 1940s, complete with alarm bells and the aforementioned comic Oirish copper. Its frenetic sonic assault complements the style of the game nicely, but after a while it starts to grate.

The graphics aren't flashy by any means, but they work well with the tone of the game. The cartoon finish over the game's 3D isometric viewpoint is polished and stylish, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of Robert Crumb's Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers from the late 1960s. That's all I'll say about the graphics, however, because, frankly, the beauty of Calling all Cars is in the gameplay.

The gameplay mechanic is almost ridiculously simple. Tim (SPOnG's resident Aussie) managed to get his mitts on the game about quarter of an hour before I did, but all it took were the words “G'day, get the prisoners, bang 'em up. If another car gets 'em, get 'em back. Mate. Crikey!” and a controller placed in my hands and I was able to jump in and play. Around 30 seconds later he was getting a sound thrashing, such is the intuitiveness of the controls.